unregistered deed not void against the grantor, &c.-Notice does not relieve the grantee from the consequences of non-registration. -When registration is required even between the parties.-Act of In the modification and creation of estates or interests in immoveable pro- perty, if the law of the domicile is opposed to that of the place in which the act of substitution or entail is passed, or to that of the situs, the law of the situs must prevail. In the transfer of property, distinction between the con- tract to transfer, and the actual transfer.-The rule to be adopted when the person is capable by the law of his domicile to contract, but incompetent by the lex loci rei site to transfer.-The property which may be alienated, and the persons to whom, and the purposes for which the alienation may be made, are exclusively determined by the law of the situs.-In what cases the place of the domicile, or that of the locus contractus may be invoked in questions regarding the transport of immoveable property. Of things which are of the essence, of the nature of or accidental to the contract. The construction of its terms when the legal effect, or the meaning in loco contractus, is not the same as in loco rei sitæ.—That which constitutes traditio, or the valid transport decided by the lex loci rei site. The law which determines on the validity of the instruments, or actes of transfer.-When writing is requisite to the validity of the contract, or as the mode of proof. On the necessity of registration, and the consequences of non-registration.-Partitions, judicial sales, do- nations, and exchanges, subject to the same rules as transfers on sale. COMMENTARIES ON COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LAWS, &c. &c. PART II. CONFLICT OF LAWS.-THINGS OR PROPERTY. THE Civil status of persons, and the rights and interests incident to, and the consequences of that status under different systems of jurisprudence, were considered in the preceding volume. It is now proposed to treat of things, or property. It will be the most convenient arrangement of the numerous subjects comprised in this division, if the acquisition and transfer of all rights and interests in property be treated as taking place, 1st, inter vivos, and 2ndly, by succession. The various titles by which the interests in property are acquired and transferred inter vivos, as by sale and purchase, gift, mortgage, pledge conventional or tacit, prescription, usucapio, &c., may be referred to two sources-contract, or obligation, and the act or operation of law. The divisions and distinctions to which property is subject require to be first considered, and they will therefore form the first chapter. The various titles by which immoveable and moveable property may be acquired and transferred, either by contract or operation of law, and the various interests which may be the subject of these titles, will then be considered. In this division are included those implied, or, as they are called, quasi contracts, which are founded on certain relations, as those of guardians, tutors, curators, receivers, agents, &c. The law which determines the validity of the execution and proof of contracts, and their construction and legal effect, when any conflict takes place, will form the subject of separate consideration. The title arising out of bankruptcy and insolvency, and the effect of the proceedings thereunder, will close that part of the work which treats of the acquisition and transfer of property by contract or obligation, and by act or operation of law. CHAPTER I. OF THINGS OR PROPERTY, definiTIONS AND DIVISIONS. THE title to property, the manner in which it is acquired and transferred, the burthens to which it is subject, the law by which questions respecting it are decided, and various other important consequences, are materially affected by the divisions and distinctions to which things or property are subject. The division of things or property into immoveable and moveable, or real and personal, has been adopted by all systems of jurisprudence. Immoveables and moveables are either corporeal or the objects of sense, quæ tangi possunt, or they are incorporeal, existing in contemplation only, and not the objects of sense, quæ tangi non possunt, sed in jure consistunt. The Louisiana Code adopts this distinction. (a) The jurisprudence of Spain, (b) Holland, (c) and Scotland, (d) admits the same distinction, by bestowing a separate consideration on the subjects which are (a) Louisiana Code, b. 2, tit. 1, c. 1, art. 1051. (6) Febrero, tit. 3, c. 3, n. 34. L. 4, tit. 29, part 3. (c) Van der Keessel, Thes. 178, 179. Math. de Auct. lib. 1, c. 4, § 11. Berlich. Conclus. pt. 3, con. 30, n. 10. Carpz. Def. For. p. 3, Cons. 24, Def. 8. Leyser, vol. 2, spec. 101, n. 7. Muller, Prompt. tit. Res Incorp. P. Voet, de Reb. Mob. et Immob. c. 2, § 2, 3. (d) Banckton, b. 1, tit. 3, n. 19. ol. 2, c, 1, § 1, 2. Erskine, b. 2, tit. 2. Bell's Com. |